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Integrating the physical infrastructure that makes the city work, with the cultural infrastructure that enables us all to thrive...

 
 

“Let’s build something to be proud of for generations to come.”

— Lord Mayor Sally Capp

+ Foreword

Image Name Lord Mayor Sally Capp

No one could have imagined the devastating events that have unfolded around us in 2020. The intense summer bushfires that ravaged our countryside and choked our cities have brought a distressing reality to our climate emergency. Our recovery was barely underway when COVID-19 emerged, its rapid spread damaging communities and economies everywhere.

The environmental and economic challenges ahead are immense. We will overcome them together. From dislocation and disruption there comes the opportunity to re-evaluate the way we do things and reset our cities on a safer, more sustainable, more resilient path. As we rebuild, we will need courage and vision to stay the course.

Cities like Melbourne must play a leadership role in this “new normal”, working with our communities to demonstrate the social and economic advantages of new and better ways of thinking. We know Melbourne’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2040 will be more important than ever to many people in the wake of our horrendous bushfires; a transition to 100 per cent renewable energy for buildings and transport will play a major role in reaching that target. The creation of a circular economy is another necessity as we turn our minds to reducing or using waste more thoughtfully. Melbourne also plays an active part in an international community of cities dedicated to sharing ideas and acting together to adapt and respond.

This report, A New Normal, builds on case studies from cities around the world and proposes practical solutions to make better, healthier municipalities across Greater Melbourne while generating jobs and economic opportunities. The projects presented here have been carefully costed and developed with a focus on economic viability.

In addition, fifteen Melbourne architecture practices have collaborated to help visualise the findings by sharing their vision for transition and recovery. Their approach is to integrate the physical infrastructure that makes our city function with the cultural infrastructure that enables it to thrive.

Bringing together business, all levels of government and the people of Melbourne, the ideas presented in the New Normal will stir much–needed discussion and deserve serious consideration. In our recovery from the bushfires and COVID-19, we have an opportunity to re-imagine and transform our city with a vision for the long-term while solving our short term challenges.

Let’s build something to be proud of for generations to come.

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10 Key Profitable Initiatives Required to Transform Melbourne by 2030:

 
 

+ 01. Electrify Transport

Phase out the internal combustion engine, transitioning to electric vehicles, while also discouraging vehicle ownership by improving public and human powered transport infrastructure

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View Initiative

+ 02. Energy Storage

Utilise the energy storage available in our electrified transport system in combination with thermal and hydro to create grid stability.

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View Initiative

+ 03. Electrify Architecture

Phase out the internal combustion engine, transitioning to electric vehicles, while also discouraging vehicle ownership by improving public and human powered transport infrastructure

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View Initiative

+ 04. Efficient Architecture

Mandate the retrofit of all existing buildings with only profitable initiatives to reduce their energy & water consumption

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View Initiative

+ 05. Solar Architecture

Improve solar PV uptake within Greater Melbourne, installing solar PV on a minimum of 50% of all rooftops

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View Initiative

+ 06. Solar and Wind Grid Scale

Transform the LaTrobe Valley into a renewable energy & agriculture region, ending coal fired generation

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View Initiative

+ 07. Water Unlimited

Treat and reuse sewer water within the city

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View Initiative

+ 08. Organic Waste to Energy

Install anaerobic digesters throughout the city to convert organic waste into energy and fertiliser

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+ 09. End Landfill

Ban the sale of any product destined for landfill

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View Initiative

+ 10. New Architecture

Mandate net-positive energy, water-neutrality and zero-waste for all new buildings

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View Initiative

 
 
 
Melbourne Now

This is our city…

5 Million of us living here together.  Ten thousand square kilometers.  More than one million buildings.  Consuming more than we are producing.

 

+ How long until our resources run out?

Melbourne is the 20th wealthiest and second most liveable1 city globally. However, it sits just outside the top 1% in terms of emissions per capita.

Greater Melbourne covers around 10,000 square kilometres and consists of 31 municipalities, with a population of almost 5 million.

Standing at almost 300m, the Eureka Tower is Melbourne’s tallest building.

Energy

To power the city, Greater Melbourne burns enough brown coal to fill the Eureka Tower 100 times annually4, enough oil to fill it 40 times and enough natural gas to fill it 30 times4. At current consumption rates, the finite resources that power our energy system will be exhausted globally in two lifetimes.

Water

Melbourne consumes enough water to fill Eureka tower 1,000 times annually. Greater Melbourne receives 10 times more water (as rainfall) than it consumes. And only 16% of the wastewater we treat is reused, with 84% being disposed of at sea. Melbourne is projected to run out of water as early as 2028. Our backup plan — desalination — costs twice as much as recycling water and is highly energy intensive.

Waste

Melbourne sends enough waste to landfill to fill the Eureka tower 50 times annually. 18% of this waste is organic matter8, which is often wrapped in plastic bags, driven in carbon-emitting trucks and dumped in landfill to eventually digest creating methane — a greenhouse gas 28-36 times more damaging than carbon dioxide.

 

We can transform our city to run on resources that will never run out, and profit from the transition

Melbourne 2030
 
 
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This is already happening in cities across the world…

 

 How do we get there?

 

Energy

This is how we will transform our energy system to be powered by resources that will never run out.

 

Water

This is how we will transform our water system to close the loop and provide an unlimited supply.

 

Waste

This is how we will transform our waste system to become circular and no longer send resources to landfill.

 
 

Welcome to the first selection of projects to kick start the transition.

 

01. Electrify Transport

It’s time to phase out the internal combustion engine. The transport system will become entirely electric.


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Halve the number of cars from 2.6 million to 1.3 million by 2030

 
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Convert remaining 1.3 million cars to electric

 
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Annual healthcare savings of at least $0.6bn/year.
Annual fuel savings of $1.4bn/year

+Case Studies

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+ What happens to all the cars?

What happens to Melbourne’s 2.6 million cars over the next 10 years? Half are avoided through improvements to public transport, car sharing and human powered transport infrastructure. The other half are electrified, with their batteries then being used for grid electricity storage.

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It is time to phase out the internal combustion engine entirely. In its place, we should:

  • rapidly electrify the entire transport system;
  • expand and encourage public transport;
  • incentivise multi-modal and human-powered transport;
  • incentivise carsharing over car ownership, with the aim of significantly reducing the number of cars within Melbourne;
  • phase out the sale of cars with internal combustion engines; convert cars with combustion engines to electric.

 
 

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Grimshaw x Greenshoot x Greenaway Architects

Electric Car Conversions

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The electrified vehicle ‘pit stop’ aims to connect people to the process of electrifying existing cars through the ‘new normal’ service station car conversion experience - cars are converted and charged, and their spare parts repurposed and recycled, whilst powered by solar.

People reconnect to their own health and wellbeing at the same time by the installation of feedback loop ‘Mobile GP’ installed into their vehicles.

Due to the conversion of existing cars, the facility enables current technology vehicles to remain relevant in a future age of automotive technology. DIY is supported by a RACV helpdesk, and creates an opportunity for the next generations of mechanics to upskill.

The process is about empowering personal choice to convert their vehicles whilst encouraging citizens to reconnect with health and wellbeing. The service station represents in real time - choice, social interaction through DIY, convenience - which slowly adapts the cities transport networks into living arteries for our cities which are healthier places to be, and that allow natural systems and habitats to regenerate.

 
 

Foolscap Studio

Upgrading the Train

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Work; Eat; Sleep; Relax; Repeat!

By 2030, we need to provide a legitimate, electric alternative to air travel. As a way of encouraging consumers to use the train more, to demonstrate to our political leaders that Australian’s enjoy and want a better train system that is fast and electric, we start by improving the experience on our existing trains. The trains between Melbourne, Sydney & Adelaide become the most desirable path between cities because the experience is tailored to the next generation.

Not fast, not slow, our proposal is a celebration of medium-paced travel, which repurposes existing rail infrastructure to connect Australia’s largest urban centres: Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Through great design, we can create demand for trains, improve efficiency—and have fun doing it.

Currently, the XPT trains are the only long-distance public transport option for travelling between Melbourne and Sydney. These trains are up to 37 years old and run on diesel-powered engines. They’re old, tired, and far from an inspiring way to travel.

This proposition, which could be kickstarted immediately, would see old carriages stripped down to their shell, before being repurposed as mobile F+B destinations. The opportunities are endless: we’ve included a café, restaurant, bar, lounge, co-working facilities and sleeper cars to celebrate the rich hospitality culture of our cities. The result: a reimagining of the past, to create future-forward travel experiences in convivial, relaxed style.

 

02. Energy Storage

As the grid transitions to 100% renewable energy, storage will be necessary to ensure that power can be accessed where and when it is required.


 
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Multi-storey car parks and houses

 
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Become batteries for the city

 
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Creating a distributed storage network 300x the size of the world’s current largest battery

+ Case Studies

energy storage case study

 
 

+ Distributed Energy Storage

Distributed storage network across Greater Melbourne, created by vehicle to grid technology.

Distributed energy storage

 
 

It is time to phase out the internal combustion engine entirely. In its place, we should:

Convert all parking spaces to allow vehicles to both charge and discharge using vehicle to grid (V2G) technology — making V2G chargers standard throughout Melbourne. V2G chargers to be available soon in Australia are estimated to retail at around $10,000. It is estimated with bulk purchasing V2G chargers will cost around $5,000 per unit including installation. This solution creates a distributed storage network across the entire city. It can be incentivised through government subsidies, justified through the reduction in the requirement for grid stability upgrades and stationary grid storage infrastructure.

 
 

energy storage cost

Hassell

Multi-level car park battery bank

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In this project we take an existing multilevel car park in Little Collins Street and alter its purpose. The car park becomes a home for electric cars and their batteries are linked together to store and discharge the energy for the city.

Application of this Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology in Melbourne is important. As a way of accelerating the uptake of this technology the approach is to create a connection with the people of Melbourne through a multipurpose use of existing carparks. The dual uses being both technology & culture.

When the city’s workers disperse home, the car park is emptied. Performers and the people of Melbourne are invited into this void. The battery powered cars and bikes of the audience then focus their energy on powering the performance. The car park is activated; the surrounding area is transformed. The building connects the cities people, and is enlivened by it.

 

03. Electrify Architecture

 It’s time to turn off the gas tap to the city — and transform all existing buildings to become 100% electric.

 
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1.2 Million

Gas Stoves

600,000

Gas Ovens

1.1 Million

Gas Heaters

 
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90% of Melbourne homes have a gas connection

 

Replace gas hot water and heating with heat pumps, and gas cooking equipment with electrical equivalents

 

100% of homes are run on electricity

+ Case Studies

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+ How do we turn off the gas tap to the city?

Converting gas consumption to electrical equivalents. Large savings are possible in heating and hot water due to the efficiency of electrical heat pumps when compared to gas.

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The grid can never fully decarbonise without removing natural gas.

Even ignoring carbon emissions, there are serious concerns around both health* and future supply — The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) have predicted an annual shortfall of gas production in Victoria by 2022, and intermittently on peak demand days by winter 2021.

In industry, electrification is not only viable, but can give manufacturing industries a competitive advantage through the availability of abundant and affordable clean energy.  
 

electrify architecture cost

 

Clare Cousins Architects

Southbank Apartments Car Park

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Through the decommissioning of carbon intensive gas infrastructure and its replacement with a spatially efficient electric alternative, an opportunity for broad scale community development arises…

In an effort to help re-pedestrianise Southbank’s problematic commercial zone, City of Melbourne have recently banned exposed podium car parking; opting for a slightly more activated veneer of apartments. If coupled with New Normal initiatives, the momentum toward a pro-pedestrian and genuinely engaged Southbank can be taken to a fully realised and activated outcome. With minimal demolition and by utilising a building podium’s existing structure, this proposal seeks to capitalise on the reclaimed space of an electrified building stock.

These reclaimed spaces are programmed with the much needed community facilities that are painfully absent from the Southbank fabric. Once a car-park, now a basketball court, a coworking space, a ground floor market all provide the civic amenity from which a community can grow.

 

04. Efficient Architecture

No more cost-effective way to make major cuts in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions exists than retrofitting buildings. It’s time to make it mandatory.


 

Inefficient Buildings

 
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Mandatory Retrofits

 

 

+ Case Studies

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+ Building Efficiency Savings

Efficiency savings created by mandatory retrofits in residential and non-residential buildings.

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Mandate the retrofit of all existing buildings using only cost-effective initiatives.

This will not only reduce the environmental impact of buildings, but also save owners and occupants money, and make buildings healthier and more resilient. An extremely important and influential component of upgrading a building is upgrading the air quality of the building. Through systems like heat recovery, air-tightness and increased fresh air rates, energy efficient buildings are also significantly healthier buildings. The improvement of the quality of air in buildings would provide noticeable benefits on topics such as air contamination related to bushfires and airborne viruses.

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Fender Katsalidis

Retrofitting Existing Buildings

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Our cities are home to solid, functional, beautiful structures from all ages of history. How can they be part of a future in which buildings touch the earth more lightly, and deliver more for people whilst consuming less?

What better way than to wrap them up in a quilt of insulation?

Fabric first upgrades drastically reduce the energy footprint of existing buildings. We propose full Passive House retrofits, which replace inefficient glazing, seal gaps and add appropriate insulation to protect the indoor environments from external extremes. We propose building resilience into our cities without having to start from scratch. We have all the knowledge and technology to do this right now.

This is win-win: improve comfort; improve health; slash emissions. We can – and should – normalise a culture of valuing our existing structures for what they are, and unearthing their hidden potential to be part of our thriving, low impact future.

 

05. Solar Architecture

Solar power on every second rooftop in Melbourne.

 

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If we install solar power on every second rooftop

 
 
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Less than 1% of the area of Greater Melbourne is required to produce enough energy to power 38% of Melbourne

 

+ Case Studies

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+ Solar Potential

The impact of increasing solar PV uptake in Greater Melbourne

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Improve solar PV uptake within Greater Melbourne, installing solar PV on a minimum of 50% of all rooftops.

This may include raising PV over rooftop plant space or habitable spaces where necessary. Façade PV should be investigated where suitable. This can be incentivised through government subsidies.

Maximising rooftop PV area should be made mandatory for new buildings.

 

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John Wardle Architects

Melbourne’s Rooftops

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In Melbourne, there is a culture of converting unused rooftops to thriving venues. The vertical laneway of Curtin House famously culminates in a rooftop cinema. In other places, restaurants and bars pop up to occupy the city’s fifth elevation.

With this in mind, a new solar architecture takes the form of a rooftop module that is made of simple components assembled into a tentlike form. It is both the infrastructure to carry photovoltaics and a new place for Melbournians to experience. These habitable solar arrays recognise an existing pattern of use. There is a layer added to the city - of bars, cafes, clubs, dining and performance – that builds upon what is already here. The new spaces prompt ideas for other uses too - learning spaces, co-working offices, artist studios, gardens and galleries.

These activities are wrapped in photovoltaics that generate all the electricity they need and more, contributing back to the grid. The roofs that enclose them are steeply pitched to maximise the catchment area and to capture the sun. There is a rawness to the supporting structure, with the appearance of temporary scaffolding and the photovoltaic panels are simply bolted together. The open-ended interior space frames views and feels protected, warm and inviting.

The tent forms are infinitely flexible to suit different rooftop conditions and uses. In plan they can be arranged in a circle, as a starfish, in X and Y-shapes, as a larger field and, of course, in a single line. The modules also support climbing vines and plants to frame garden pockets.

Melbourne’s rooftop culture is amplified, expanded and electrified.

 

06. Solar & Wind Grid Scale

After coal, Victoria’s LaTrobe Valley can prosper— by becoming Australia’s new renewable energy hub.


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1/3 of the area of La Trobe Valley currently used for coal is to be used for solar power generation. Generates 15% of energy for Melbourne

 

 
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1% of the area of Victoria is used for wind farms. It would power the remaining 29% of Melbourne

 
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The land can also be used for agriculture (solar) and forrestry (wind). Which helps bring jobs to the region.

+ Case Studies

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+ Renewable Energy Sources

Demonstrating the increase in electricity consumption in 2030 as the grid is electrified, and where renewable energy comes from in this scenario.

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Announce a ban on coal fired generation by 2030 and incentivise investment in grid scale renewables in the LaTrobe Valley — while investing in reskilling the labour force in the region.

Currently over 150 km2 of the LaTrobe Valley is occupied by coal generation. Covering only a third of this area with around 5.1 GW of PV — combined with existing renewables and rooftop PV in Melbourne — would generate enough energy to power well over half the city. The remaining electricity would come from new wind energy projects throughout the region.

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Welcome to the Valley of the Sun

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A Latrobe Valley where solar agriculture underpins a 21st century economy — and one that provides 50% of Greater Melbourne’s power.

What is solar agriculture? It’s simple — the mixed use of agricultural land for both food production and energy production (through solar farms). It’s not theoretical. It’s tried and tested. And it delivers.

For the Valley it offers jobs and a safer, cleaner environment — while maintaining the region’s proud identity as an energy producer.

For the City of Melbourne it is not just a clean energy supply, but a vast new food bowl to feed our growing metropolis. But how do we make sure we bring the local community — and Melburnians — along for the ride?

By quite literally giving them a taste of solar agriculture in the Latrobe Valley. What you’re looking at is a prefabricated and repeatable greenhouse structure and restaurant. People visit, walk the property — and enjoy a day featuring food grown right there on the property. In a building powered by the solar they see all around them.

It’s an immersive, delicious, experience of our energy future.

 

 07. Water Unlimited

With its water supply forecast to run out as early as 2028, Melbourne must start treating and reusing water.


 
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Increase the permeability of our suburban streets

 
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Treat and reuse sewer water within our city

 
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Decentralised water treatment plants distributed throughout the city

+ Case Studies

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+ A Water Source That Will Never Run Out

We treat and reuse all of our sewer water and harvest stormwater for reuse to minimise or even eliminate water requirements from catchments outside of Greater Melbourne.

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Ban the disposal of treated water. Treat and reuse water within the city, creating a water source that will never run out

Greater Melbourne’s sewer water should be treated to drinking water standard via a combination of membrane bioreactor (MBR), Hydroxon & reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment plants. These treatment plants can be decentralised and distributed throughout the city, then the water produced fed back into the grid.

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+ Read More

It is a challenge in any location to encourage the general public to embrace treated water in their daily lives. Knowing this, it is important to prepare the public and normalise the treatment of wastewater to a drinkable standard in Melbourne due to the logic and financial viability in comparison to the much higher cost desalination process. The outcome will leave future generations with a more cost effective, more secure and high quality water supply. To achieve this we must engage the people of Melbourne with treated water in new ways. This is another example of connecting technology with culture. And in Melbourne what better location to do that than the iconic MCG.

An early adopter of Water Unlimited, The Water Tank Club (or the MCC – Melbourne Cistern Club) has been established as a pilot project under the bleachers at the MCG. Untreated water from the roof and plaza of the precinct is filtered through a series of pipes and tanks that form the walls of the void space under the concrete seating bleachers of the G. Clean, treated water is stored in tanks that are lit from beneath and used for drinking, swimming and misting - making the air wet and a dripping ceiling – a moist cathedral to celebrate performance, left over space and hydraulic engineering. In a spatial version of ‘beer-goggles’ punters see each other across the room, their normal faces made wonderful and warped through the lens of the clean water tanks. Night’s end is signalled by sun rise, reflected into the space from the Collins Place Towers.

 
 

NMBW

Middle Ring

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This is a typical suburban cul-de-sac – that has changed its local transport system.

The property owners negotiated to close their no-through road to everyday traffic and install a shared carport at the entrance of the street – a max. 200m from the other-end of the street. This simple act – and small personal behavioural change – frees up enormous real estate for other uses – real estate that can be put-to-use for cultural and environmental production.

Energy, waste and water can be renegotiated at street scale. Reduced traffic allows for more permeable road and driveway surfacing rather than concrete and asphalt – dramatically reducing the burden on the stormwater system – and allowing local water retention. Verges re-wilded with native species further treat the water for reuse.

The things we normally do in garages, including workshops, storage, gardening equipment, water storage and rubbish collection are all able to be rethought collectively. Without the fixed dimensions of the car and its turning circles being the key determining factor in the spatial layout – buildings can be more flexible to respond to our human and environmental needs. More density with better design can be incorporated much more easily if parking is separated from dwellings. Homes suited for an aging population and people with mobility needs can be accommodated with drop-off zones and small electric transfer vehicles.

 

08. Organic Waste to Energy

Our organic waste has significant value. It can be profitably converted into energy and fertiliser.


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Greater Melbourne sends 1,500T of food waste to landfill every day

 
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This waste is to be redirected to anaerobic digestors which are distributed across the city. Each receiving 10T of food waste per day

 
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Transforms organic matter into energy through biogas. Creates fertiliser to be reused

+ Case Studies

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+ Organic Waste Recovery

Anaerobic digesters transform Melbourne’s organic waste into energy.

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Ban the disposal of organic waste to landfill — and build anaerobic digesters throughout the city to convert food waste into electricity, heat and organic fertiliser.

Around 150 anaerobic digesters, each processing 10 tonnes of food waste per day, would process all of Melbourne’s food waste — and supply around 400 GWh of energy (enough to power around 84,000 homes) and 136,000 tonnes of organic fertiliser per year in the process. The non-food portion of the city’s organic waste, mainly garden waste, can still be composted.

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WOWOWA

Swimming Pools Across Melbourne

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As a case study, Fitzroy swimming pool would be the first of 150 anaerobic digestors to be rolled out across Melbourne to deal with the city’s expanding food waste problem.

This tower combines two unlikely companions, waste and recreation. Collecting 10 tonnes of food waste a day from the surrounding food and beverage businesses; the tower converts this waste into biogas, used to heat the swimming pool’s sauna, spa and indoor pool. Housed within the tower are two large tanks, stacked to minimise its footprint, while also celebrating this new industrial form on the suburban streetscape.

The tower also produces a nutrient-rich fertiliser to feed an expanding landscape of plants growing in and around the pool and in the adjacent park. Nearby residents are encouraged to drop off their food waste before heading inside to jump into the pool or sauna.

 
 

Six Degrees Architects

Queen Victoria Market

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Queen Victoria Market is one of the Melbourne’s most loved precincts. Opened in 1878 it has provided a continuous destination for generations of Melbournians and visitors for over 140 years.

The market sheds and halls have changed and developed over the decades and the market is currently undergoing a further series of redevelopments to underground the cars and reclaim the existing asphalt carpark as public space and parkland.

As a product of selling fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, the market produces hundreds of tons of organic waste every month.

This proposal looks to take the significant organic waste generated at Victoria Markets and turn it into energy, for use by both the market stall holders and visitors to the precinct. Gas is generated through the use of an anaerobic digester. The methane produced will provide energy, through a gas engine, to power a moonlight cinema for Melbourne City Council’s proposed new park atop the existing market carpark. The methane will also be used by the market’s fleet of forklifts and piped through the market to provide gas for the food outlets. Food trucks can jack in to service points adjacent to the digester to service the moonlight cinema or other market events, and Public BBQ’s will be provided in the park for general use.

Food waste and surplus vegetables, usually destined for landfill, will instead be transparently utilised to help power a treasured Melbourne precinct, while the bi-product, a nutrient rich fertiliser, will be offered to market shoppers to take home to their gardens and used on nearby city parks.

 

09. End Landfill

It’s time to end the concept of landfill — by banning the sale of any product destined for the landfill.


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We need to end the sale of any product that is destined for landfill

 
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This requires communication and awareness for consumers, the private sector and the government

 
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Linked with this we require facilities to repair, reuse and repurpose our existing materials and products

+ Case Studies

End Landfill Case Study

+ Waste Streams

Food waste is treated through anaerobic digestion, and all waste destined for landfill is avoided.

Waste Infographic

Ban the sale of any products unavoidably destined for landfill. Encourage reuse over recycling.

Some of the products & practices must be eradicated by 2030 include:

  • Single use plastics

  • Non-reusable construction products

  • Mixed, non-recyclable packaging

  • Disposal of glass rather than recycling

  • Disposal of paper and cardboard

Regulation banning the use of any material that is not organic or 100% recyclable are required across all industries.

Key areas include retail and consumer products, construction, agriculture, manufacturing, and logistics. Unavoidable waste from life-saving sectors, such as cutting edge medicine, will need investment in research into viable alternatives.

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Dreamer

Replace Me

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We need to end the sale of any product that is destined for landfill. A physical space is required for communication, awareness and education for consumers to make better choices. The popularity of such a space will send a message of support to political leaders to introduce much needed regulation. But let’s not preach to the converted here, it’s an important message for all of Melbourne. This creates an opportunity once again to connect technology or solutions with culture by connecting waste with art.

It’s 2030 and Melbourne is a trash free city. Welcome to Replace Me, a retrospective art gallery making the invisible visible and celebrating the beauty and value of the discarded.

The gallery’s permanent collection will comprise a series of “cores” – tubes of solid landfill waste drilled and extracted from extinct landfill sites across Melbourne. Like layers of ice drilled in Antarctica they depict our changing relationship to waste over time. Once drilled, local and international Artists work with the cores - curating, cleaning, assembling and constructing, creating contemporary works of art.

Visitors would use an augmented reality app as they explore, being guided to discover hidden bottles from the 19th century, durable 1950s appliances, and select moments in the masses of recent fashion, electronic and plastic waste.

Replace Me unpacks the material and cultural value of our discarded items. It serves as a signpost pointing to the moment we were empowered as a community to take a different direction.

 

Edition Office

The Cathedral of Circularity

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The Circular Economy. A social enterprise that teaches repair and reuse. The facility repairs and sells refurbished products, and hosts workshops where individuals can come along and learn how to repair their own things. This allows people to rethink how they use and dispose of resources. At the same time, workshops with businesses and manufacturers are hosted encouraging the transition into circular products in all industries.

We all know that person who has a natural ability to fix things, to take the seemingly useless and transform it into a re-vamped, well oiled thing of beauty. Or maybe they just help you fix your bike chain. Regardless, this is their church. A Cathedral of repair, where tech and machinery of all types are archived, pulled apart, sorted for parts. Where people can bring anything from a toaster to a state of the art road bike for repairs. Inside, alongside the archive of parts, is a community tool library.

The building, acknowledging its use, re-purposes the existing structure and superimposes a new mass timber structural system, which itself can be unbolted and the materials easily repurposed for future alternate use.

 

10. New Architecture

We can now construct profitable buildings with no negative environmental impact. It must become the industry standard.


 
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Net Positive Energy - Produces more renewable energy than it consumes annually

Net Positive Water - Produces more water than it consumes annually

Zero Waste Operations - Produces no waste to landfill through the life of the building

Zero Impact Construction - Construct new buildings without emitting carbon or sending waste to landfill.

 

+ Case Studies

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+ Net Zero Code

New architecture must create more energy than it consumes, treat and export more water than it consumes and create no waste.

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Mandate net-positive buildings as the construction industry standard. Building codes need to be adapted to dictate that any new construction must be triple net-zero: must create more energy than it consumes, treat and export more water than it consumes and create no waste. This needs to happen at both building code and council planning control levels.

In the meantime, architects and engineers can accelerate this by pushing the limits on every project, seeking the environmental and financial threshold, helping to demonstrate that this form of construction is “normal” educating consumers and developers and encouraging regulation.

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Kennedy Nolan

An Apartment Building at Docklands

 

+ Read More

Melbourne is a Design City and now we can use design to solve our most pressing issues. Best of all, we don’t need to invent the solutions – we just need to deploy them!

We know how to take buildings off grid and have a net positive effect on our city - we only need to look to the past. On site infrastructure is efficient and operationally cost-effective - its how we did it in the past.

Solar panels as cladding operate buildings on the power of the sun. Placement of the panels give shadow, texture and depth like verandas.

Visible infrastructure animates space in much the same way as distillery equipment, exciting in scale and materiality, the forms and shapes are intriguing and dramatic and real.

Cross laminated timber construction is relatively new, but timber feels so familiar to us. This eternally renewable resource is well suited to cellular construction and so enjoyable to be near.

Less glass, more wall, articulation, texture – people want these in buildings –glazed sheaths have alienated us and are a thing of the past.

 

Fieldwork

Carbon Neutral Construction

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We have all the tried, tested and proven technologies today, to build the office building of the future.

That is a carbon neutral building in construction and operation.

The first step towards achieving this is by building with Mass timber. Products such as Cross Laminated Timber and Glulam - which are already being manufactured in in Australia - are a more sustainable alternative to concrete and steel, due to their renewability, reduced carbon impacts, and carbon sequestration. Combined with a highly efficient envelope, reduced glazing and solar shading the buildings embodied and operational energy can be reduced drastically.

The second step relates to renewables energy supply. Photovoltaics are a technology that Australians are well acquainted with. The office building of the future maximises all opportunity to integrate PV in to facade and rooftop, to power the building from the sun.

Further to the building, is the construction site itself that can reduce its environmental impact and carbon footprint. In various countries worldwide, technology has been developed to power machinery and equipment off the grid - moving away from diesel, to electric. This, along with timber prefabrication and its reduction in waste, will lead to a quieter, healthier and quicker construction site.

Finally, to spread awareness and secure the legacy of a more sustainable building practice, TAFE students and tradespersons as the practitioners to the future will be engaged and educated - through on-site education and involvement.

 
 
 
 

 With just 15 projects we can unlock a $100 billion transformation of Melbourne. Together we can transform Melbourne into a city that never runs out.

 

Welcome to
a new normal.

 
 
 
 
 

We’d love to hear from you…

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